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The Most Underrated Cardio Exercise

The Most Underrated Cardio Exercise

by | May 29, 2022 | Blog, Bodyweight, Core, Exercises, Functional Fitness, Pain Relief, Runner's

Want a great move to include in your bodyweight interval cardio workouts that isn’t jumping, but will for sure get your blood pumping?

Want a full-body core intensive move you can utilize in so many different ways?

Ready for a move you can modify to match your fitness level and progress when ready?

Then you’ll love this amazing bodyweight cardio move that will target your shoulders, arms, abs, obliques and even quads –

The Tabletop Crawl!

But wait?! Babies crawl…isn’t crawling easy?!

HECK NO!

This crawl will not only challenge your body but also your mind and coordination.

Unlike the Baby Crawl, your knees are going to hover off the ground.

And with the Tabletop Crawl, unlike the Bear Crawl, you want to focus on keeping your butt down and knees just a few inches off the ground.

You also want to focus on that contralateral movement pattern, or opposite arm and leg working together. This is a great way to improve your coordination, especially for movements like running!

While you can focus on moving faster only and allow a bit more rotation of your core as you crawl, you can also use this move to work on that anti-rotational core strength.

And then you can crawl in every direction using this tabletop or bulldog position, even mixing things up by adding in rotational moves like the Sit Thru, holds or even other crawl variations to the flow!

All of these things make this crawling variation a killer cardio move.

 

So how do you do the basic Tabletop Crawl?

Start on your hands and knees with your knees under your hips and hands under your shoulders. Starting out or to modify this move if you get out of sync as you go through this move, you can always come back to crawling on your hands and knees.

Tuck your toes under and then lift up onto the balls of your feet and hands so your knees hover just a few inches off the ground.

To start with the crawl forward, step forward with one hand and, as you do, step the opposite foot forward, bringing your knee in. Start with small steps and focus on keeping your hips still as you step.

Then step the other hand forward and other foot.

Think small steps as you brace your abs and keep your knees close to the ground. You can continue taking steps forward in this way with the opposite arm and leg moving together or you can reverse your direction and crawl backward.

When you crawl backward, be conscious of taking small steps, especially to start. This requires a bit more upper body strength than the forward crawl oddly enough and often we get more spread out, as we have a tendency to reach further back with our feet when crawling backward, placing more load on our upper body.

As you step one foot back, remember to step back with the opposite hand.

Using this basic forward/backward crawl, you can then add in occasional holds, or even a Sit Thru on each end of the length you’re crawling in. You can also add in little jacks or side to side hops if you want. Or you can even turn over to add in a crab crawl with this tabletop crawl.

You can also use this same crawling position to move LATERALLY.

How do you do the Lateral Tabletop Crawl?

The lateral crawl is a great move to improve your coordination and you may find the movement pattern a bit more challenging to start.

And if you’re thinking I’m too old for this move, you’re wrong! As we get older, including moves that work on our coordination and neuromuscular efficiency are even more key!

They keep us functional strong!

While you can make the lateral crawl an ipsilateral or same side working together movement, it is a great contralateral move.

To do the lateral crawl as a contralateral movement pattern with the opposite hand and foot working together, set up with your hands together under your chest and feet and knees about shoulder-width part.

Then step one hand out wide to the side so your hands are about shoulder-width apart as you step the opposite foot in toward the other. As your hands move apart, your feet move together.

Then to continue laterally, your foot on the same side as the hand you just moved will step to the side as you bring the opposite hand in to meet your other hand.

Move slowly to start keeping your knees hovering just off the ground. You can move as many steps as desired across the space you have then come back the other direction.

Focus on keeping your hips still as you move side to side.

Modifying The Basic Crawl:

While you can always go down to your hands and knees, to start, another way to modify this move that is often a bit more comfortable for the knees if your surface isn’t padded, is to use an incline.

For lateral crawls, you can use a bench as your incline and move along the length of it.

For forward/backward crawls, stairs actually work best as you can place your hands up on a higher step and crawl up a step at a time!

While often we will cheat and modify by allowing our butt to go up in the air during the basic crawl off the ground, we want to recognize this changes how we are activating muscles and will not give us the same ab or quad benefit that the basic tabletop or bulldog position does.

So using an incline can help us really master that positioning!

SUMMARY:

Crawling can be a great way to improve our coordination and our conditioning. It is a great move to include in an interval workout even with traditional moves we love like burpees, if we want to include jumping. It will work our entire core and get our blood pumping.

Try a fun Sit Thru crawling variation in this workout below:

–> 5 Cardio Moves For Fat Loss Workout

10 Weight Loss Hacks (That Actually Work)

10 Weight Loss Hacks (That Actually Work)

by | May 22, 2022 | Blog, Diet, Exercises

You’ve lost the weight…now what? You can’t just go back to what you were doing prior, but you also can’t stay in a deficit forever!

Instead you’ve got to transition into maintaining, knowing that it will be a process as you find the balance right for you. But what does maintaining your results really mean?

Since it can be a challenging process, I wanted to share 10 tips to help you find the lifestyle balance you need to maintain your results forever.

 

10 Weight Loss Hacks To Help You Keep The Weight Off For Good:

1: Realize your weight will fluctuate.

Maintaining doesn’t mean there won’t be little ups and downs. The scale will still often fluctuate daily due to inflammation, water retention, even your meal timing the day before.

The key is realizing you have the tools to “catch” things before they become an issue or you start the trend backward.

But also be conscious that as you balance out, you may see a slight scale increase. Do not stress! And then use other forms of measurement as you maintain as the scale won’t show muscle gains which can be occurring as you go out of that weight loss deficit.

Focus on how your clothing fits and even take measurements at set intervals!

2: Don’t cut out processed foods.

The more you restrict foods, demonize things, the more you cause yourself to crave things and ultimately derail your consistency.

Part of why we can never maintain our results is because we don’t know how to work in the things we enjoy and love and WANT to eat at some point.

Food is not just fuel.

If you enjoy candy, find ways to work it in as you build those maintenance habits and transition into maintaining your results.

Find ways to work in the things you love first.

And also recognize we have to stop these sweeping undefined labels. Not all processed foods are just evil.

Heck, technically COOKING is processing a food so watch the labeling as it often only creates guilt instead of balance.

3: Create mini cycles.

Most of us don’t do well without direction, with just doing something “forever.”

Even when maintaining your results, set mini goals, set little cycles for yourself where you have a specific focus.

Test out ratios. See how calories impact you.

Experiment with cycles.

Focus a bit more on body recomp or more on gaining muscle. Not so much that you’re cutting or bulking but just so you have a focus for your fueling and training.

4: Set performance goals!

There is no better way to give yourself mini cycles with end dates than to set performance goals.

Not only can these give you direction in your training but they keep you training hard and fueling well which only promotes retention of your aesthetic changes!

If you want to achieve that first full pull up, design your workouts to work toward that. Even make sure your diet fuels that muscle growth and performance so you can train hard each and every session!

5: Track. Yup. Track.

I know we think tracking is just about weight loss, but learning to maintain our results is a process in and of itself and tracking allows us to make sure we are dialing everything in and slowly transitioning out of that deficit.

It also allows us to make sure we are eating enough to fuel our performance goals.

So while in maintenance you may not track as strictly or even every day, remember that tracking can be that accountability and check in especially if you do feel your energy dipping or your pants getting a bit tight.

You now have a tool you can use any time you need to tweak something and move forward!

6: Realize you won’t always be motivated.

Accept that maintaining means that at points you still want to do little cuts for that beach vacation or little muscle gaining periods to lift a bit more.

There will be holidays where you don’t care and times of year you want to lean down to feel extra fabulous.

Ebbs and flows should be embraced and we need to realize we won’t always be 100% motivated in the same way.

So while we want to set boundaries or bumpers so we don’t go to either extreme, we have to realize we will fluctuate with time.

7: Embrace minimums.

When trying to maintain our results, there will be times we really only do the minimum. But that SOMETHING is what keeps us on track and maintaining even if it isn’t driving us forward toward a specific goal.

Minimums may be calorie caps or protein minimums. It may be a Plan B to our workout routine if we’re busy or a modified schedule just so we do something.

But we won’t always be motivated and there may be times life and stresses need to take priority. These minimums help us avoid losing ground while striking a lifestyle balance.

Consistency is key and this helps us be better than we would have been otherwise to keep us maintaining the results we worked hard for!

8: Don’t diet on holidays OR vacations.

There are 300 days of the year you can focus on working toward a specific goal. But holidays and vacations are not one of those days!

Sometimes we may need to set boundaries for ourselves to keep moving forward as fast as possible, whether it is a calorie cap or even pre-planning what we will eat, but too often we worry about gaining weight or losing weight on the holidays or vacation.

When really that one day doesn’t matter. Heck even those two days don’t matter.

It’s all the days AROUND the event that matter.

Stay on track before the event and get right back to your healthy habits after.

It is 100% a-ok to just enjoy those days without guilt or stress or worry.

9: Always have the day after plan.

Often it isn’t the actual missed workout or day of overeating or stress eating that causes us to sabtoge our results. It isn’t the vacation or party.

It’s the fact that we feel guilty and that one day becomes two days or weeks or even months before we get back to the habits we need.

We let the old habits sneak back in and snowball.

Having pre-prepped meals for the next day already available to get us back on track or a progression, with even a plan b laid out, can help us get right back to our routines and habits.

Especially if you’ve gone on vacation or have a party, plan ahead for how you’re going to get right back to your habits the day after. That will allow you to make sure that one day doesn’t add up and you keep maintaining the results you worked hard for.

10: Try new things!

Often when we are trying to lose weight we get into very set routines and even very repetitive in how we are training and fueling because it is working.

But these same habits and routines can get boring. And when we get bored we are more likely to slip back into old habits.

So find new things to challenge you. Find new things to learn and experiment with.

Test out new macros and recipes. Experiment with new training splits and even moves.

Have some fun experimenting and learning to keep your training and eating interesting!

SUMMARY:

Just remember maintaining is itself a process. And with these 10 tips you can maintain the weight loss results you’ve worked hard to build!

Stuck and struggling to see the results you want and deserve?

Watch this video for my 3 Step Weight Loss Recipe.

How To Fix Rounded Shoulders (4 EXERCISES)

How To Fix Rounded Shoulders (4 EXERCISES)

by | May 16, 2022 | Blog, Exercises, Foam Rolling, Functional Fitness, Pain Relief

So many postural distortions or movement pattern compensations get blamed on a single joint or even muscle.

But often it is overload from multiple different areas adding up.

And that means we not only have to address many different muscles and joints at time to truly alleviate the aches and pains, but it also means we need that full 3-Step Prehab Process of Foam Rolling, Stretching and Activation.

This is especially the case when it comes to our shoulders and that rounded shoulder posture many of us have developed, leading to neck, shoulder and upper back, and even lower back, aches and pains.

This posture, and these aches and pains, stem not only from restricted shoulder range of motion, but also a lack of proper spinal and scapular mobility and stability.

Working not only on the mobility of our shoulder joint but also our spinal extension and scapular mobility and stability are key!

That’s why I wanted to share 4 moves that will help you work through the layers of this postural distortion to move and feel your best!

But before I do, I just want to mention that postural isn’t simply good or bad. We each have different builds and different movement and recruitment patterns.

However, we need to recognize the mobility restrictions and imbalances we personally have that our perpetuating our aches and pains to constantly be addressing them to move and feel our best.

And as we include the mobility and stability work to improve, we can’t simply stop doing these moves when things are “better.”

You can NEVER stop doing what made you better. If you’ve done rehab for a specific injury, that rehab simply needs to become PREHAB, included in your recovery routines and warm ups!

Now what are the 4 moves to fix that rounded shoulder posture?

EXERCISE #1: Lat Foam Rolling

Our lats have a direct impact on our shoulder health and that rounded shoulder posture, contributing to shoulder internal rotation as well as restricted shoulder flexion, or your ability to reach overhead.

Tight, overactive lats can restrict proper shoulder mobility, negatively impact your shoulder stability, and even impact your scapular mobility as well, which is why it is key we include a move to relax this muscle like Lat Foam Rolling.

To roll out your lats you can use a ball or roller. If you’re using a roller, lie on your side with the roller behind your armpit.

Reach your hand overhead with your palm facing up to stretch your lat as you roll.

Roll slightly up and down your side to find a tight spot and then hold. As you hold, reach your arm up overhead then sweep it down in front of your chest.

Move slowly breathing as you go to help the muscle relax and release.

You can even slightly rock forward and backward as you hold on a spot.

Then move the roller to another spot, working down the side of your back and shoulder blade. Then switch sides.

You can also use a ball if you know your exact trigger points and want to apply more pressure or even need to roll out against a wall because you can’t get down on the ground.

EXERCISE #2: Suspension Trainer Snow Angels

This is an amazing multipurpose move that not only mobilizes your shoulders, but stretches your chest, helps improve your thoracic extension and your scapular mobility and stability.

The key is not just going through the movement, letting it all come from your shoulders, but actually engaging your upper back to stretch out your chest and improve that scapular control!

Stretches should also help us ACTIVATE underactive muscles and restore proper flexibility and joint range of motion.

To do the Suspension Trainer Snow Angels, you will need a suspension trainer, rings or even towels or resistance bands anchored behind you. If you use bands, you want something that doesn’t really stretch much with the movement.

Using a Suspension Trainer, hold a handle in each hand and walk away from the anchor point with your back to the anchor point.

Extend your arms straight out to your sides at shoulder height so that you feel a stretch in your chest. You may have to adjust slightly backward or forward as you begin to do the wave, depending on your mobility.

Then, standing still with your arms starting out at shoulder height, engage your back and brace your abs. You want to think about really extending through your mid and upper back without arching your lower back.

Raise your arms up overhead. Keep your arms straight as you extend overhead and even lean slightly forward to increase the stretch.

Hold for a second or two and then bring your arms out and down to the side, lowering them all the way back and down toward the ground.

Keep your arms straight as you bring them down.

Feel the muscles of your chest and even around your shoulder stretching as you lower your arms down.

Then bring them back up out to the side and back overhead. Move in a fluid, smooth “wave” as you lift and lower.

When you do the Suspension Trainer Snow Angels, you want to make sure you’re engaging your upper back to open your chest up as you raise your arms up overhead.

Feel your shoulder blades move as you raise your arms overhead and then lower them back down to your sides.

EXERCISE #3: Dip Hold Shrugs

So often we ignore the stability of our shoulder blades and don’t work to control every movement they do. We may include some retraction exercises to improve our posture, pinching our shoulder blades together, but we also have to remember that they elevate and depress.

Too often when we round forward, our shoulders end up shrugged up by our ears. This is why it’s key we also work on that ability to depress our shoulder blades and drawn our shoulders down.

A super popular move, and one I personally love to work on this movement, is the Mini Pull Up. However, this simple looking move is more challenging than we realize. It takes a lot more scapular control and strength than it seems like it would for such a small movement.

It also can’t be done at your desk.

Whereas the dip hold shrug can!

And an added bonus of this move is that it will remind us not to hunch and round forward while at our desk!

It’s key we also realize that this scapular movement is not only done when pulling but can be utilized during a press!

To do Dip Hold Shrugs, you can do these off a bench or chair. Place your hands over the edge of the bench, finger tips pointing back toward your butt as you extend your legs out and lift yourself off the bench and slightly in front.

Allow your shoulders to shrug up as you hold. Then press the bench away and draw your shoulders down, lifting and opening your chest slightly up toward the ceiling.

As you do this, don’t let your butt drift super far out in front of the bench or let your hips raise up. Often to try to make it feel like a bigger move we start moving other parts of our body instead of just focusing on the small unshrug.

Pause then relax back down, allowing your shoulders to shrug.

Again draw your shoulder blades down. Focus on really feeling those shoulder blades move as you unshrug and open your chest up slightly toward the ceiling.

If it helps, I like to think of this as a turtle popping its head out of the shell!

To progress this move, you can even do it off of dip bars. Or to modify, bend your knees and walk your heels back in toward the bench or chair!

EXERCISE #4: Extended ROM Scapular Push Ups

Along with learning to control elevation and depression of our shoulder blades, we want to be able to control protraction and retraction.

And I think it’s key we can do this through the full range of motion.

Moves like this too not only help improve our posture by allowing us to learn how to retract our shoulder blades, or pinch them together, but moves like this also allow us to learn how to engage our backs to properly row when not starting from a set position.

This exercise also strengthens the Serratus Anterior, which is a muscle often overlooked as being key to strength for our shoulder health!

To do the Extended ROM Scapular Push Ups, start from a forearm plank position off the ground.

You can also do these from your hands or a high plank position, however, that can allow you more room to move your hips. It can though be used to reduce the resistance on your core if needed.

With your elbows under your shoulders and your feet no wider than hip-width apart, make Sure your abs are engaged and your quads are flexed. Unshrug your shoulders to feel your back engaged.

Then round your mid and upper back up toward the ceiling, tucking your hips even to perform a slight posterior pelvic tilt. But do not just round through your lower back.

Really think about the rounding of your spine coming from pushing the ground away with your elbows and forearms.

Feel your shoulder blades draw as far apart as possible coming forward around your ribs.

Then slowly lower back down into the plank and, from here, pinch your shoulder blades together.

Make sure you aren’t shrugging as you pinch your shoulder blades together.

And do not let your hips sag as you perform the small retraction movement. We can often let our hips drop because we’re trying to make the move feel bigger.

Move back into the plank position then and repeat the round up.

If you can’t control this movement yet, reduce the resistance and modify the movement off an incline.

Using a bench or incline reduces the resistance on your upper body and core.

Really focus on feeling the movement of your shoulder blades. As you round, feel the muscles around your ribs and abs.

As you retract, focus on feeling the muscles of your upper back engaging.

Just make sure you do not shrug as you pinch those shoulder blades together!

SUMMARY:

The best rehab is prehab.

Include these 4 moves as a quick mobility routine in your day, just even 30 seconds per move or side, or add them into your warm up before an upper body workout.

But make sure to keep using the things that help you stay mobile and strong!

Foam Roll+ Stretch + Activate to prevent injuries and improve your mobility…

–> The RStoration Method

Hate Step Ups? Try this move instead!

Hate Step Ups? Try this move instead!

by | May 9, 2022 | Blog, Bodyweight, Butt, Exercises, Functional Fitness

Not every variation of every move is going to be right for you.

Especially if you’ve had injuries in the past you’re rebuilding from.

If you’ve struggled with knee or hip pain, especially on one side, you may want to focus on unilateral moves.

Unilateral, or one sided moves, can help you correct imbalances while making sure that your stronger side isn’t taking over and compensating.

They can allow you to rebuild that weaker side while also avoiding overloading the weaker side by doing a move that your weaker side can’t keep up on.

But what if you’re including unilateral moves like the step up and they are still a struggle? What if you want to target your glutes more because you tend to be quad dominant?

Well then this variation is exactly what you need…

THE STEP DOWN!

Sometimes it is small tweaks to moves that really add up. These adjustments can help us target specific muscles more and work better with our builds and current mind-body connection.

With the Step Down, this top down approach, can help you better focus on the hip hinge and only work through the range of motion you can truly control.

It is a great way to focus more on your glutes than your quads.

And you can really limit the range of motion to exactly what you can control without being able to cheat and push off your other foot.

It can also work well if you don’t have a range of box heights because you are so in control of how far you lower down.

So how do you do this great step up variation to improve your balance and target your glutes more?

How To Do The Step Down:

To do this move, start standing on top of a box to one side of the box. You want to place the opposite foot from the side you’re standing closest to close to the edge so the foot on that same side can actually hang off the box.

Press that foot on the edge into the box. This can help you better balance as you lower down, especially if you struggle.

Make sure you push the foot on top of the box solidly down into the box. Too often we don’t focus on that foundation to help us better activate muscles up our leg and even improve our stability.

Think of your foot as a tripod and push the two points in the ball of your foot and one in your heel down into the box.

Then begin to push your butt back. You want to start by hinging at the hips as you then bend your knee to lower your foot off the box to the ground. Do not be afraid to slightly lean forward as you lower.

You do not want to round your spine as you hinge.

Lower down only as far as you can control.

If you can lightly graze your toe on the ground, great. BUT you don’t want any weight to shift to the foot lowering down if it does touch the ground.

You will then drive back up to standing off the foot on top of the box. Stand tall at the top and squeeze that standing glute before repeating the move.

You can increase the height of the box as needed or even lower only half way down on the box if needed to start.

But you want to lower down only as far as you can control.

Because of the hip hinge with this movement over the traditional step up, you will be able to target your glutes more while still working your quads and hamstrings.

Make sure as you do this move, your knee stays in line with your hip and ankle. You do not want your knee caving in or bowing out.

Part of keeping everything in line relates back to you also focusing on that foot. Push through the entire foot and be conscious if you do feel yourself starting to rock in or out.

Modifications:

To modify this move, you may start with a smaller range of motion and increase as you build up. You can even start standing on a plate weight or only lower a few inches down on a taller box if that is what you have.

You can also create a balance assist by holding on to a pole or suspension trainer in front of you.

If you really struggle with your knee caving in, to help you better activate that glute medius to stabilize the hip and knee, you can also anchor a very light band to the opposite side of your standing leg and put it around your leg.

This gives you tension to push out against to activate the glute medius or that side butt muscle that stabilizes your hip and will improve that knee alignment. Just go light so you have that reminder but it doesn’t pull you into an incorrect position.

To advance the step down, you can hold a weight in close at your chest or even increase the height of the box to increase the range of motion.

Using This Move:

This is a great unilateral accessory exercise to include and most often will be done for 10-20 reps, although if you are adding loads you may find you do try to create a challenge at 8 reps.

Use it for higher reps if you are just starting out and doing more bodyweight based training!

Ready to design workouts AND dial in your nutrition to match YOUR needs and goals?

Check out my SIMPLE recipe for results…

–> 3-Step RS Recipe

10 Upper Body Bodyweight Exercises (+2 WORKOUTS!)

10 Upper Body Bodyweight Exercises (+2 WORKOUTS!)

by | May 1, 2022 | Blog, Bodyweight, Exercises, Functional Fitness, Push Ups, Travel Workouts, Workouts

There is always a way to keep moving forward consistently toward our goals working around the challenges life throws our way.

And while it may not be our ideal workout or schedule, doing SOMETHING is always better than nothing and can keep us moving forward toward our goals.

That’s why I wanted to share 10 upper body bodyweight moves to help you build strength even when you don’t have access to a gym or you’re short on time.

These moves will target your arms, shoulders, chest, back and core and can easily be done at home, with a few bonus moves using a towel.

I share quick tips on how to do these moves then 2 amazing workouts you can implement them in! 

 

10 Upper Body Bodyweight Moves:

1: Doorway Row

It can be challenging to target your back and perform pulling movements when we don’t have equipment. But by using a simple doorway or even stair banister, we can really challenge our back using our own bodyweight.

And this move is amazing because you can make it unilateral or bilateral to not only challenge one side at a time but even make it harder by using only one side to pull your weight.

Just make sure to stay in that squat and focus on your shoulder blade moving so you’re really initiating the pull with your back!

To modify, start with both hands instead of a unilateral pull.

2: Downward Dog Pike Push Ups

Push ups are not only a great chest, shoulders and tricep exercise, but also a great core move. And you can adjust how much you activate each of those muscle groups based on the exact variation you use.

If you want to get your shoulders and get in movement to mimic that vertical press or overhead press, the downward dog pike push up is the perfect move to include.

When you do this move, make sure you don’t turn it into a horizontal press but actually lower your head straight down between your hands to mimic that vertical pressing movement.

To advance this move, place your feet up on a bench or stair. The higher the platform, the harder it will be!

3: Scapular Wall Row

When we think about back exercises, we think about pulling movements. But this amazing back move is actually a press.

If you struggle with engaging your back and that scapular movement, and often feel your biceps taking over, this is a key back exercise to include. And all you need is a wall!

When you do this move, focus on driving off your elbows to push away from the wall and feel your shoulder blades move toward your spine to drive your chest out. Focus less on walking further away from the wall and more on that mind-body connection to engage your back.

To vary this move up, you can also do the press lying on the ground as well.

4: Tricep Push Ups

This amazing unilateral push up is a great way to target each arm independently to correct imbalances and really work those triceps.

It is also easier on the shoulders than the bench dip, which can make it a great option especially if you’ve had shoulder aches and pains in the past.

When you do this move, make sure to press through your entire hand. Move your hand up higher to modify or lower down your side to advance. And make sure not to let your legs flop around.

You can further modify this move to start by pressing off a bench or wall over doing the push up off the ground.

5: Lying W Pull Down

Even when we don’t have equipment, we don’t want to ignore the importance of vertical pulling exercises. Moves like the Lying W Pull Down can help us improve our back strength, working our lats while helping us improve our scapular control and stability.

Really focus on your shoulder blades drawing together and down toward your butt as you pull your arms down from extended overhead as you lie on the ground. Even slightly extend your spine to lift your chest and hold as you perform the movement.

If you do feel your neck during moves like this, rest your head on a towel or even modify this move standing.

6: Chest Fly Push Up

The chest fly is a great move to really work your pecs, which is exactly what muscle you’ll work more with the Chest Fly Push Up.

All you need are two small towels to use on a hardwood floor or even paper plates on carpet.

And bonus, you’ll also really work your core.

When you do this move, really focus on sliding out with control then your pecs working to pull your hands back in as you come up out of the push up.

To modify, try sliding one side out at a time or even move to your knees. You can also modify this move off an incline, sliding one hand out at a time while using your stairs to create that incline.

7: Plank Row

This bodyweight exercise is a great way to target your core, especially your obliques, improve your shoulder stability and even work on your scapular control and strengthen your back.

Really focus on avoiding rotation as you row your hand up toward your chest and make sure to initiate the row with your back.

This move is an anti-rotational core exercise so do not rush it but really flex even your quads and glutes to fight opening up as you lift your hand.

To modify, try the plank off an incline, placing your hands up on a bench, couch, table or stair.

8: Climber Plank

Target those arms and shoulders as you work your entire core with this plank variation.

When you do the Climber Plank, really make sure to place your hands under your shoulders over letting your hands sneak out in front of you as you climb up. And as you lower down, place your elbows under your shoulders.

This not only really makes your arms and shoulders work, but it will protect your neck and help you avoid shrugging.

To modify this move, try the plank off an incline.

9: Self Resisted Bicep Curl

You can apply your own resistance when bands or weights aren’t available. And one great way to do this and get in some bonus isolation work for those biceps is using a towel!

To do this curl, loop a towel and hold the ends in one hand to resist your other hand as you curl. You can then make it as easy, or as challenging as you want by pulling against your curl.

Focus on making yourself really fight to curl against the tension. Don’t make it too easy on yourself!

You can even include holds at different points in the move to spend more time under tension.

10: Body Saw

If you want a challenging plank variation that is going to work your triceps and lats, you’ll want to include the Body Saw.

While you can do this move by just walking your feet back, a great way to really make it challenge not only your core to protect your lower back during the extension but also your lats and arms, is to add a towel under your feet.

Instead of walking back, slide back. Do not let your hips sag but focus on lengthening through your arms and shoulders before you pull back in.

Think about pulling back into that plank by feeling the sides of your back working to bring your elbows back under your shoulders.

How Can You Use These Moves In 2 Amazing Workouts?

Workout number 1 is the 1 Minute Max Out. Set a timer for 1 minute and perform as many reps of a move as you can in that time. Move through the 5 exercises, working for 1 minute on each (30 seconds per side) before resting for a minute to repeat for 3-5 rounds through.

1 Minute Max Out

CIRCUIT:
1 minute Doorway Row
1 minute Downward Dog Pike Push Up
1 minute Plank Row
1 minute Tricep Push Up
1 minute Lying W Pull Down
1 minute Rest

The second workout option is the 20-16-12-8 Ladder. You will start with 20 reps per move in the Triset (or per side) then go down to 16 reps the next round, 12 the third round and finally 8 on the last round through the moves. Once all 4 rounds are complete on a Triset, move onto the second set of exercises. Time how long it takes you to beat that time next time through!

20-16-12-8 Ladder

TRISET #1:
20-16-12-8 Doorway Row
20-16-12-8 Chest Fly Push Ups
20-16-12-8 Body Saw

TRISET #2:
20-16-12-8 Scapular Wall Row
20-16-12-8 per side Self Resisted Bicep Curls
20-16-12-8 Climber Plank (perform HALF the reps per side)

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The Best Inner Thigh Exercise You’re Not Doing

The Best Inner Thigh Exercise You’re Not Doing

by | Apr 10, 2022 | Blog, Bodyweight, Core, Exercises, Pain Relief

Do you want to tone and strengthen your inner thighs?

Then this move is exactly what you’re looking for!

While we want to make sure we include compound leg exercises in our workout routines that work our entire leg while targeting those adductor, or inner thigh muscles, we also want to make sure that we complement that training with some isolation moves to really hone in on this stubborn muscle group.

That’s why I want to share one of my favorite moves so you can target your inner thighs and really feel them working while improving your knee and hip stability as well.

And bonus!, you’ll work you’re entire core, especially those obliques and even that glute medius, to target two other stubborn areas the love handles and side butt!

So what is this amazing inner thigh and core move?

It’s the Bench Side Plank Adductor Lift or the Copenhagen Plank!

This move is deceptively hard though so be conscious of the cues as you set up and watch for the modifications so you can make sure you adjust the move to fit your current fitness level, needs and goals!

Better to regress and build up than to use a variation we haven’t yet earned!

Bench Side Plank Adductor Lift Form:

To do this move, set up on your side with your elbow under your shoulder and the inside of your top foot on the bench.

Dorsiflex that top foot hard, pulling your toe up toward your shin to create tension through that lower leg. This tension will protect your knee as you hold the side plank.

Lift up into a side plank from your forearm with your bottom foot on the ground and your top foot on the bench, pressing down hard into the bench. Make sure your shoulders aren’t shrugged and your elbow stays under your shoulder so you can properly engage your upper back.

If your elbow sneaks out beyond your shoulder, it will put more strain on your neck and shoulder.

Engage your upper back and feel your bottom oblique and glute medius working even to slightly allow that bottom leg to hover off the ground. Make sure you aren’t twisted to face toward the ground.

Feel the adductor of your top leg working already as you hold in this position. Again do not relax that top foot.

Then holding the side plank position, lift that bottom leg up to meet the bench. Feel the adductor or inner thigh of that bottom leg working to lift.

Move slowly lifting and lowering back down. You can touch the foot down, but do not disengage your core at the bottom. Feel your bottom glute medius and oblique working to keep you lifted in the side plank.

Perform all lifts on that side then switch sides.

Modifications:

The first way to modify this move is to hold the side plank with your knee on the bench or even upper thigh.

This reduces the strength and stability demands, especially if you’ve had knee issues in the past.

If you don’t have a bench, you can of course always use a stair, couch or table, but you can also completely modify this movement off the ground.

From the ground you will just stagger that bottom foot in front to then be able to lift.

One further modification if the side plank is a bit too much currently on your shoulder and core, is to switch to an incline variation using the bench with your elbow up on the bench. You will then stagger your bottom foot in front to perform the adductor lift.

Using the incline reduces the load on your upper body and can be good to help you build up.

If you’re fully starting at the basics, you can even perform this movement fully lying on your side; however, this does reduce remove the core bonus you get from that side plank position.

SUMMARY:

Remember that doing a harder variation is not better if you can’t focus on the correct muscles working.

Often people end up demonizing moves not because the moves are bad but because they didn’t use the proper recruitment patterns or did a harder variation they haven’t yet earned.

But pick the variation that matches your needs and goals to work those inner thighs while improving your hip and knee stability and core strength!

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